You Can’t Fight City Hall

The old dictum, “You can’t fight city hall” is as true today as it was when Judge Allison in my hometown of McPherson, Kansas, explained to me why my dog had to be behind a fence or on a leash and Red, a large dog of uncertain lineage, didn’t. “Red knows the right people,” the judge said to me as I forked over my $5.00 fine for letting my terrier run wild when I let her out of the house to take care of necessary matters.

What we are seeing in our federal administration, and in our congress, and even in our beloved and sacrosanct courts today is a cronyism that would make Judge Allison smile and say, “See, I told you.”

Even Wyatt Earp couldn’t control the lawlessness that runs rampant among the powerful not just in Tombstone, Arizona, but also most everywhere. Soon it will drift down into our cities and counties and school boards. (As it already has in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.) I live in the Deep South, and the “good old boy” network has always been alive and well. But I must say that the good old boys I know are completely over powered by what goes on in WashingtonD.C. and other centers of power nowadays.

When my fourth grade teacher, Miss Wanamaker, helped us understand the political processes that control our destinies, neither she nor we would’ve had the foggiest notion that things would reach the point they have in the twenty-first century. I have wondered for years, how a poor boy from Hope, Arkansas, raised by a single mother, could become one of the wealthiest men in New York City. (And I’m not talking about Mike Huckabee, who also just happens to have hailed from Hope.) William Jefferson Clinton never held a job other than a government job in his whole life, except for some part-time teen age jobs. How did he get so rich? Did he milk the state of Arkansas and then the United States for every penny?

I realize there are those who would say that he deserves his riches because, after all, he has given his life to “public service.” I’m sorry, but Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Allen West and others have records of public service that completely overshadow Clinton’s. And that brings us to the ultimate public servant of our present time, Mr. Community Organizer. (I have never been clear about what a Community Organizer is or does. I thought communities, per se, were organizations. Silly me.)

At least Barack Obama has accomplished one notable feat. Jimmy Carter is no longer the worst President of my lifetime.

About the author

Harry Livermore

Harry Livermore spent a lifetime teaching English in high schools and junior colleges in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Georgia. He now writes for and is editor of the Valdosta Magazine. Harry and his wife Janice live in Valdosta, GA. They are members of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Valdosta. Harry has two sons, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren who live in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas.